Lined vessel



y 1947. F. A. FERGUSON LINED VESSEL Filed Oct. 2:5, 1944 INVENTOR- an/11W ATTORNEY.

Patented May 6, 1947 LINED VESSEL Frank A. Ferguson,

Baytown, Tex., assignor to Standard Oil Development Company, a corporation of Delaware Application October 23, 1944, Serial No. 560,061

4 Claims.

The present invention is directed to improved vessels employed in handling corrosive fluids. More particularly the invention is concerned With the lining of vessels with a flexible material, such as sheets of lead.

In the petroleum industry, vast amounts of sulfuric and other corrosive acids are employed in processing operations. For example, in the treating of naphtha and lubricating oil, in order to provide a stable product, it is often necessary to treat petroleum fractions with varying amounts of sulfuric acid to produce a product of desired quality. The quantities of sulfuric acid handled make it imperative that the used acid be recovered for reuse in the refining operations. Many refiners, therefore, recover from the acid sludges, resulting from the acid treatment of petroleum, the sulfuric acid contained therein. In the recovery of sulfuric acid, it is conventional practice to dilute the contaminated acid or sludges with water and then heat the dilute sludge with open steam to about 2 5 F. to effect an easy separation between the sulfuric acid and the organic contaminants.

It is a well known fact that weak sulfuric acid is a very corrosive liquid and it is, therefore, necessary to provide processing vessels which resist the corrosive tendency of the sulfuric acid. One method of providing vessels for handling the corrosive acid is to line steel tanks or kettles with lead. The conventional method of lining tanks with lead is to cover the interior surface with a sheet or sheets figuration of the vessel being'lined by burning lead sheets of various sizes together. The lead is held against the wall of the vessel by means of bolts located at spaced intervals which penetrate the lead and the shell of the vessel andare in themselves protected by providing sheets of lead over the bolts. It will thus be recognized by the skilled worker that burning sheets of lead over the bolts in the vessel being lined will protect the bolts, but placement of these sheets of lead over the bolts represents a tedious and unsatisfactory procedure. The interior of the vessel being lined by this method presents an irregular surface which is very undesirable when it is considered that it is often common practice to line the lead lined vessel with acid resisting brick.- An irregular surface offers little chance of success in providing a surface impervious to the action of the sulfuric acid. Furthermore, the method of protecting the bolts in the conventional lead lining procedure is unsatisfactory for the reason that the stresses and strains incident in lined tanks of lead to conform to the conemployed in handling corrosive acid at various temperatures frequently cause the lining to pull apart at the bolts providing an entrance for the acid to the shell of the vessel and thus allows corrosion and eventual destruction of the vessel itself.

The present invention is directed to an improved method for lining vessels in a manner such that the liner prevents contact of acid with the vessel and insures a smooth surface which does not buckle and leak due to stresses and strains during handling of varying strengths of weak sulfuric acid at temperatures necessary for the recovery of concentrated sulfuric acid therefrom. V v i In the present invention the lead liner is connected with the shell by anentirely new method which dispenses with bolts and the like. In the present invention slots are cut into the outer shell of the vessel. At spaced intervals, angle irons extending around the external circumference or periphery of the vessel are provided adjacent to the lower edge of the slots and the open top of the vessel to provide a support for the lining as will be described further. The sheets of lead making up the internal surface of the tank and providing a lining for the metal shell are lapped over and turned under the angle iron extending around the open top of the vessel while the lower sheets are attached to the shell through the slots by means of pieces of lead connected to the sheets making up the internal lining. These sheets are reinforced by a block of lead to take up any stress or strain introduced by the changes in temperature in processing the acid or in suspending the lead on the angle iron. The sheet of lead joined to the internal lining is then lapped over the angle ironproviding support for the internal lining without recourse to bolts and the like. The only irregularity of the lining is where the various sized sheets are joined together by the lead burning technique which has been developed to the point where a smooth joint can be made.

The present invention may be adapted to the lining of various types of tanks. For example, it may be employed in lining the conventional cylindrical type of tank. It may be employed in lining conical shaped vessels such as kettles and the like. In its broadest aspects, it is concerned with the lining of any vessel having a curved or fiat surface. The lining of the vessels having surfaces inahorizontal plane presents no problem when the support for the lining is the vessel itself such as the flat bottom of a tank. It will be understood, however, that in lining theunder side of a flat topped tank special techniques in accordance with the present invention may be employed.

The present invention will be better understood by reference to the drawings in which Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of one embodiment of the present invention embodying an open vessel having both cylindrical and conical sections;

Figure 2 is a detail of the method of supporting the liner on the vertical sides of the vessel;

Figure 3 is a detail of the method of support ing the liner and the connection between the cylindrical and conical sections of the embodiment described with respect to Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a half of a plan view of the embodiment of Figure 1; and

Figure 5 is a detail of the method of attaching the liner in the conical section of the shell of the vessel.

Referring to the drawings and specifically to Figures 1 and 2, the cylindrical wall H of a kettle or vessel is provided withslots 12 extending around the vessel at spaced intervals on the circumference of the vessel. These slots may be either at regular or staggered intervals. Angle irons l3 are attached to the shell of the vessel at points adjacent the open top of the vessel and the lower edge'of the slots l2. Preferably these angle irons extend around the circumference of the vessel. The vessel comprises two sections, a cylindrical section l4 and a conical section l5 joined together to provide the kettle-like vessel. A lead lining I6 is installed inthe vessel. The weight of the lining is supported by lead blocks burned to lining l6 and rested upon angle iron l3. The lining is held against the wall H by means of lead sheets l8 which are burned onto blocks H, which extend through the slots l2, and lap over and around the angle irons l3.

Referring again to the drawings and specifically to Figures 3, 4 and 5, the bottom conical section of the vessel is reinforced with a metallicsheet I9 of similar composition to the cylindrical ortion M of the vessel. The sheet I9 is joinedte the cylindrical wall H of section- 14 at points indicated by 20. The liner l6 extends downward from the cylindrical section l4 into the conical section l5 presenting a smooth, unbroken lining. The conical section I5 is further protected from the action of corrosive fiuids'by a course of acid proof brick 2| laid directly on the lead lining It. The imperviousness of the lead lining l6 and the course of acid proof brick lining is insured by lapping the points where the lead lining and the brick lining meet by a protective lining of lead 22. i

The conical section [5 is provided withdrawoff pipes 23 which extend upward therein and allow withdrawal of material from the vessel. Pipes 23 may be lined conventionally with lead and sealed into the vessel ll in a conventional manner.

The conical section 5 of the vessel is also provided with slots l2 arranged around the cone in a staggered or regular fashion. The lining l6 fits. snugly against the vessel H in the conical section liand slots are cut into the lining is to correspond to the slots H of the shell It. The metal of lining I8 is bent over the edges of these latter slots and is burnt onto plates of lead 24 which are slightly larger than the slots l2. To insure a seal-for the lining It in the conical sections [5 of the vessel, the slots cut in the lining 'IB arethen filled lead, as indicated by 25 in the-shadedportion of'lligure 5 of the drawing.

In this manner the conical section 15 of the vessel 1 I is provided with an effective seal against corrosion of the shell by the contents of the vessel.

In a specific embodiment in accordance with the present invention, a vessel in accordance with the embodiment of Figure 1 was lined with lead as described. The vessel in question had a diameter of about 29 feet. Angle irons were installed around the outer circumference of the shell of the vessel at approximately 2 to 3 feet intervals beginning at the open top. The lower angle irons were located adjacent to 4 by 12 inch slots staggered around the shell at about 3 feet 6 inch intervals. The inner edges of the slots were smoothed off before lining the vessel. A lining of 16 pound lead was attached to the angle irons by burning blocks of lead to the exterior of the lead lining, connecting small strips of 16 pound lead sheet to these blocks where the latter extended through the slots in the steel shell, and bending the strips of sheet lead around the angle irons thus providing a smooth interior lining for the vessel. The conical section of the vessel was also lined by cutting similar slots into the conical section at radii of about 7 /2, l1 and'l-2 feet from the apex of the cone at staggered intervals. The inner edges of the slots were smoothed oil and sheets or" lead were laid against the metal shell. These sheets of lead were carefully fitted to the contour of the cone and were joined by burning in the conventional manner. Slots were cut into the lead lining at points coinciding with the slots in the conical'shell and the lining metal was connected to other sheets of lead on them:- terior of the shell as described with respect to Figure 5. The slots cut into the lead lining were then filled by burning additional quantities oi lead to fill the slots thus providing a smooth' lining of lead for the conical section.

A course of acid proof brick was laid against the conical section of the vessel to provide fur ther protection against corrosion. The vessel, lined in accordance with the present invention, had a smooth interior surface which allowedapplication of the brick lining without difficulty. Furthermore the absence of bolts to hang and support the lead lining eliminated at considerable number of points where leakage might occur. The art of lead burning is so developed that by joining thesectio'ns of the lining by butting togetherand' burning, a continuous sheet may be formed which eliminates the usual problems of leakage.

While the present inventionhas been described and illustrated with respect to the lining. with sheet lead of a vertical cylindrical vessel having a conical bottom, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the method of the invention is also applicable to the lining of rectangular vessels having either vertical or sloping sides and to the lining of horizontal, cylindrical vessels. It will also be apparent that the method is similarly applicable to the installation of flexible metallic linings other than lead.

The nature and objects of the present invention having been fully described and illustrated what I wish to claim as new and useful and secure by Letters Patent is: p

1. In a vessel'adaplzed for handling corrosive liquids, an outer shell with a vertical wall portion provided with a plurality of spaced horizontally extending slots, a plurality of horizontal shelf members secured to the exterior of the vertical wall portion of the vessel with a shelf member arranged adjacent each slot so that the lower edge of the slot and the upper surface of the shelf member adjacent the slot define a single horizontal plane, a metallic liner arranged within said shell with the exterior surface of said liner bearing against the interior surface of the shell, a plurality of projections integral with said liner and extending outwardly from the exterior surface of said liner at right angles therewith and in a horizontal plane, said projections being equal in number to and smaller in cross sectional area than the slots in the shell with at least a portion of each projection extending outwardly through a separate slot and the outer end thereof bent over the shelf member adjacent thereto.

2. A device in accordance with claim 1 in which each of said projections is in the form of a sheet and the lower surface of each projection rests on the lower edge of the slot through which it extends.

3. A vessel adapted for handling corrosive liquids which comprises a cylindrical section provided with a plurality of spaced horizontally extending slotted openings and a conical section provided with a plurality of slotted spaced openings, said conical section being attached at the base of the cone to the cylindrical section, a metallic liner within and conformed to the shape of the vessel defined by said sections, a plurality of horizontal shelf members secured to the exterior of the cylindrical section with a shelf member arranged adjacent each slotted opening so that the lower edge of the opening and the upper surface of the shelf member adjacent the opening define a single horizontal plane, a plurality of projections integral with said liner and extending outwardly from the exterior surface of said liner at right angles therewith, said projections being equal in number to the openings in the two sections with at least a portion of each of said projections extending outwardly through a separate slot, said projections in the cylindrical section of said vessel being bent over said shelf members and said projections in the conical section of said vessel making contact with at least a portion of an exterior surface of the shell.

4. A device in accordance with claim 3 in which each projection extending through each slotted opening in the cylindrical section of said vessel is in the form of a sheet with at least a portion of the lower surface of each sheet resting on the plane defined by the upper surface of the shelf and the lower edge of the slot.

FRANK A. FERGUSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

